


Champagne Problems

by MusicPlayer81



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Aunt-Niece Relationship, Difficult Decisions, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Lin may not have children, Post-Canon, and Jinora trusts her more than anyone, but she cares for Jinora, or wanted them for that matter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28521066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicPlayer81/pseuds/MusicPlayer81
Summary: “In some areas, sure, but not others.” She sat up straight and nodded her thanks, bringing the mug to her lips. She lingered there, for a moment. “How else did I not know that Kai was thinking of proposing to me?”Lin stopped herself from raising an eyebrow. Tenzin’s future, dominated by marriage. His daughter’s, by everything but.--In which Jinora isn't ready for the fact that she may be proposed to, and her first thought is to seek help from the one person who would know best. Lin, of course, has more than enough experience.
Relationships: Jinora/Kai (Avatar), Lin Beifong/Kya II, Lin Beifong/Tenzin, Pema/Tenzin (Avatar)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 125





	Champagne Problems

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to explore the relationship between Lin and Jinora as I feel like they would get along well, especially with Lin as an aunt figure. Furthermore, I've been listening to Evermore since it came out, and I realized that "Champagne Problems" is very much a Lin song--so much so that I wrote this fic loosely based off the song's storyline. I hope you enjoy, please read and review! :)

Jinora sighed and leaned her head against the back of her chair. “I’m being dumb, I know I am.”

“You are no such thing,” Lin replied sharply, pouring ginseng tea into a pair of mugs. The girl—well, young woman, she was 24 now but in Lin’s eyes always 10—had found her way onto her doorstep not five minutes ago in a daze, and had barely uttered a word. She hadn’t seen her this spirit-shocked since….well, she’s not sure she _had._ The one time her spirit had been captured was the one time Lin was absent. While she couldn’t have done anything about that particular mess, it still pained her that she wasn’t there to at least _try._ She put the mugs on the table and slid one over to Jinora. “You are many things Jinora, but dumb is not one of them. You’re one of the smartest people I’ve met.”

“In some areas, sure, but not others.” She sat up straight and nodded her thanks, bringing the mug to her lips. She lingered there, for a moment. “How else did I not know that Kai was thinking of proposing to me?”

Lin stopped herself from raising an eyebrow. Tenzin’s future, dominated by marriage. His daughter’s, by everything but.

“I heard Kai asking Auntie Kya if Dad carved my mom a necklace,” Jinora said by way or clarification, sipping on her tea. “I didn’t stick around to hear the rest of the conversation. I found my glider and flew straight here.” She blushed. “I’m sorry to intrude. I just, I didn’t—“

“It’s quite alright,” Lin said. So the irony wasn’t lost on her either. “If it helps you any, at least now you have an idea that it’s happening. With your father, I was clueless.”

Jinora almost dropped her mug. “ _What?”_

“He tried.” Lin’s fingers found their way to the betrothal necklace Kya carved for her, and she smiled wryly. “It obviously didn’t work.”

The Airbender stared on, baffled. “I—When—"

“It didn’t officially happen, but it also didn’t _not_ happen either. You want snacks?”

“Um—“

Jinora’s answer wouldn’t have mattered anyways. Lin was already out of her seat, opening a package of rice crackers and dumping them on a plate, which she then placed in front of the Airbender. She gestured for the girl to grab one.

“There was a big shindig on Air Temple Island,” Lin began explaining once Jinora shyly took one. “A shindig which, now that I think about it, Tenzin must have helped plan. I mean, how else were Uncle Sokka from the South Pole and Uncle Zuko and the rest of the Fire Nation Royal Family all in one place? That’s not even taking into account Aunt Suki and the rest of her Kyoshi Warriors…”

Lin cleared her throat. “I digress. This is all to say that I was completely unaware that anything was amiss. If anything, I was more in shock that Kya had convinced the island to splurge on alcohol, and I don’t mean the kind used for your ceremonies. I’m talking about the _good_ kind.”

Jinora grinned. Sounds about right for an aunt that not-so-secretly keeps a flask of cactus juice on her at all times.

The metalbender returned it and continued on. “After what still ranks as one of the best dinners of my life, there was dancing. The floor was crowded, so Tenzin and I ended up dancing on a landing of one of the stairs outside. Something had felt _different_ as he was leading me out, and as soon as I sensed the metal on him I realized why.” Lin took a long sip of her tea. “I was floored, and did my best to hide it. Don’t think I did though. Either way, Tenzin never got the chance to get down on one knee, though. My mother’s drunken calling out for me stopped that from happening. I still remember him standing on that landing all these years later.” Lin rolled her shoulders. “Like I said, it never officially happened. But anyone with a functioning brain cell could have put the pieces together.”

Jinora sat there for a moment, tracing the rim of her mug as she absorbed everything she had been told. “Wow,” she said after a moment. “Did he ever try again?”

Lin shook her head. “No. And besides, your mother entered the picture not long after.”

Jinora nodded, redness tinging her cheeks. The faint static of a radio could be heard from the living room.

“Can I ask you something, Auntie Lin?”

The metal bender swallowed the last of her tea and gestured for the young Airbender to speak.

“Did you ever….did you ever think about Dad proposing?”

“Oh, kid.” Lin leaned back in her chair. “Your dad has been in my life forever. When we started dating, it was just a natural continuation—we were always together, now romantically, and soon enough we’d marry and settle down. I mean, that’s the idea, right?” She barked out a laugh. “I figured one day, I would be ready. Ready to settle down, ready for marriage. It wasn’t until it I sensed the ring in his pocket that I realized I wasn’t. Worse yet, I would never be able to explain exactly _why_.”

“You loved him, though,” Jinora said, slowly. “Right?”

“More than anything,” Lin smiled bittersweetly. “It wasn’t enough.”

The young Airbender looked down morosely at her plate.

Lin stood up and grabbed their now-empty mugs. “I can’t tell you what will happen,” she said, beginning to wash them out. “But if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that you need to make the decision that’s best for you, and not for anybody else. You’ll be much happier in the long run, no matter how painful it may feel in the present.”

Jinora nodded. “Thank you, Auntie Lin.” She stood up, but faltered as she reached the doorway. “Auntie?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I stay a little while longer?”

Lin put a fresh pot of tea on the stove in response, her mouth upturned ever-so-slightly at the corners. “Stay as long as you need.”


End file.
